


The Most Wonderful Time

by lureavi



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, First Christmas, Fluff, It's just all fluff, M/M, Matt and Shiro are Engaged, Matt is Christmas Crazy, Shatt, Shiro is doing his best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 15:56:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17206388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lureavi/pseuds/lureavi
Summary: Shiro has never celebrated an American Christmas. Matt insists on exposing him to the full “Holt-iday experience.”Written for LinaBeanWrites on Tumblr as part of the Shatt holiday exchange!! Merry Christmas!! <3





	The Most Wonderful Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LinaBenliven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinaBenliven/gifts).



> Prompt from[ LinaBeanWrites](https://linabeanwrites.tumblr.com/): Domestic Matt and Shiro at Christmas. Since Shiro is Japanese and they don't celebrate Christmas there - maybe Matt introducing him to different traditions. Or just them cuddled up together watching Christmas Movies.  
> Ahhh I love your prompt so much! I actually did a good deal of research about Christmas in Japan to try and get Shiro’s initial take on the holiday as accurate as I could. They do celebrate in Japan, but it’s so much different than America!  
> I hope you enjoy this Lina, thank you for the lovely prompt!! I’m sorry it’s a little after Christmas, but I didn’t want to rush this out before I was confident in it <3

It wasn’t his favorite holiday, but Shiro knew all about Christmas. He had just never really celebrated it, per say.

In his defense, it was a holiday for couples. the same way an American Valentine's Day was, and he had never had anyone to partake in it with. Of course, he still listened to the music, and he still admired the festive lights. He might indulge in Christmas Cake a little too much, but that was part of the tradition.

He knew American Christmas was somewhat different, but, this would be the first year he celebrated outside of Japan. He was wholly unaware just _how_ different the traditions would be.

Which explains why he was so caught off guard when Matt burst into the room with an ax, excitedly demanding that they go on a road trip.

“It’s almost Christmas. I’ve waited too long, and it's now or never.” Matt insisted, almost frantically. He was already dressed in his winter coat, knee-high snow boots, heavy gloves and Santa hat. In one hand, he clutched an ax tightly to his chest. In the other hand, a thick coil of rope. “Get dressed. We leave in twenty.”

Shiro stared, eyes wide in confusion and admittedly fear. “Uh… Matt? Whatcha got there?”

“An ax. And some rope,” Matt deadpanned, as if there were no need for clarification. “We’re gonna need them! Come on, really, it’s gonna be a long drive to the middle of nowhere, I don’t want to be chopping things up in the dark.”

If there was one thing Shiro had learned in the few months he had been living with Matt, it was to expect the unexpected. This, however, reached an entirely new level of strange for him, and Shiro wasn’t quite sure how to respond, or what to make of his fiance's request to go to the ‘middle of nowhere’ to chop something up. He rose up from the couch slowly, taking a few cautious steps towards Matt. “Babe, give me the ax,” he said softly.

Matt blinked, a bit taken aback, “uh, why?”

“Honestly? Because you’re scaring me a bit.”

“What?” The realization clicked in Matt’s mind, and he rolled his eyes. “Oh my god, Kashi. This isn’t The Shining. I want to go get a Christmas tree!” If it were possible, Shiro looked even more confused, and Matt let out an exasperated sigh. “You know, drive out into the woods? Hike up the snowy mountain? Chop down a good tree and haul it inside to decorate? It’s a tradition!”

Shiro’s brows furrowed, his nose crinkling as he processed Matt’s words. “People… Actually do that?”

“Oh, my sweet Summer child,” Matt cooed, setting down the ax and rope to wrap his arms around Shiro’s neck, “WE are going to do that. Today.”

“Absolutely not. No way am I-” Shiro’s words died in his throat.

Matt was not going to back down, and resorted to drastic measures. He gave Shiro The Face. The big, round eyes that shone as if they might give way to tears, looking up through long eyelashes and mussed bangs. The slightly parted, downturned lips. The rare, full on puppy face saved for the special occasion in which Matt wholeheartedly decided “this is happening, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.”

Shiro’s heart clenched, and he struggled to swallow the lump in his throat. He wasn’t getting out of this one. He let his head fall back, staring at the ceiling as he accepted his fate. “Okay. Fine. We’ll chop down a tree.”

“And then tomorrow we decorate it. And then bake cookies.”

“What? All of that?” Shiro whined. Christmas was starting to sound like an awful lot of work.

“Don’t you know anything about traditions? Yes all of that!” Matt put a hand on his hip, the other hand wagging a finger at Shiro,  “You’re getting the Holt-iday experience this year. No buts. Now, go get dressed, and put on the Christmas sweater I put on the bed for you!”

Shiro slumped his shoulders and let his head loll back again, slowly and reluctantly starting the trudge to their shared bedroom, “can’t you go easy on me?”

Matt gasped, clutching both hands over his heart and even taking a half step backwards in his over dramatic display of shock, “EASY? Shiro. Dumpling. Honey buns. Sugar pie. My gorgeous, sexy gumdrop. My-”

“Matt.”

“Okay, okay,” he held his hands up in surrender, “you draw the line at gumdrop. I can respect that. Anyways, Holts don’t half-ass holidays. Go put on the sweater, and I'm gonna teach you how to Christmas.” Matt grabbed onto Shiro’s shirt, pulling him in for a tight hug, “you’ll love it, I promise!”

Shiro wasn’t sure about that.

* * *

 

Shiro stared at himself in the small mirror of the passenger seat sun-visor. He looked ridiculous. He _felt_ ridiculous. The sweater Matt had picked for him was atrocious. It was a deep forest green, and had actual tinsel stitched in a scallop pattern down the front. From each intersection of tinsel, a tiny plastic ornament hung. Apparently, he was a 'Christmas Tree.' “I can’t believe I’m wearing this,” he breathed, finally shutting his eyes so he didn’t have to look at it any longer.

Matt’s jumble of half-singing, half-chanting what he thought were the words to _Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree_ came to a halt as he snickered, taking his eyes off the road for a split second to glance at Shiro’s sweater again, “love bug, ugly sweaters are tradition, and you have to wear one so we can take a picture!”

“Fine, fine.” Shiro grumbled. He could complain more, but, Matt had been ecstatic to see him wear the sweater. The surprised squeal and running hug was decidedly worth the current torture. Still, he had his doubts about the next few days. “So… Can you warn me? About the other traditions you’re going to teach me?” Shiro asked, but not without hesitation. He wasn’t sure if going into things blind would be a blessing or a curse.

“Nope! Here, drink this. It's part of the traditions.” Matt grabbed his thermos from the cup holder and shoved it into Shiro’s hands. “Family recipe. I make it every year!”

Shiro was reluctant to take the thermos, and wrinkled his nose at the smell of its contents, “what… What is it?”

“Drink it.” Matt insisted.

“Not until you tell me-”

“Drink it!”

“Okay! Jeez…” Shiro took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for whatever concoction he was about to swallow. He hoped it was hot chocolate, or maybe something with peppermint, but it didn’t smell promising. Steeling his nerves, he took a large gulp.

“Well?” Matt couldn’t keep the smile from his face, “what do you think?”

Shiro gagged, unable to swallow the thick liquid, and equally unwilling to let it sit on his tongue any longer. He rolled the window down, sticking his head into the freezing air to spit the vile goop that dared call itself a drink out into the road. “UGH! MATT! What the hell was that?!”

“Eggs!” Matt chirped, grabbing the thermos back to take a generous swig. He had no problem swallowing it, and actually appeared to enjoy it, much to Shiro’s disgust.

“EGGS?!” Shiro coughed, shaking his head as if it would get rid of the lingering taste. He had no trouble believing he had just been fed raw eggs, and was starting to again question Matt’s sanity.

“Well, not just eggs. It’s got some nog in there. Eggnog!” He explained, seemingly unphased by Shiro’s repulsion, “it's good! Its tradition!”

Shiro kept his face scrunched and began digging through his pockets for a mint, for some gum, for anything to make him feel less like he had just chugged a raw omelette with a side of gingerbread, “I don’t think I like your traditions very much…”

Matt’s expression cracked, his cheery smile giving way to fear. “Don't say that! Christmas is great! Just you wait,” he promised. He was so preoccupied worrying over the thought of Shiro disliking Christmas, he nearly passed their destination. He slammed on the breaks and sharply veered off to the side of the road, “WE’RE HERE!”

Shiro gripped tightly to his seat, bracing against the screeching halt and grimacing as his own momentum still threw him forward, his seatbelt locking and digging into him, his forehead smacking into the sun visor. He wasn't a fan of Matt’s driving, but that was unfortunately year-round, not just a Christmas tradition.

Matt winced, smiling apologetically at Shiro. “Sorry…Let’s go!” He wasted no time in scrambling to undo his seatbelt, then throwing himself across the center console and into the backseat to grab his ax and rope, nearly kicking Shiro in the head with a flailing leg in the process.

“Matt!” Shiro stifled a laugh, not wanting to encourage his already Christmas-crazed fiance. He bat away the awkwardly bent leg near his face, “there are doors for a reason… And be careful with that ax, you’re making me nervous.” He watched as Matt slipped fully into the rear of the car, then out the back door, taking off sprinting towards the woods. The color drained from Shiro’s face. “What did I just say?! DON’T RUN WITH AN AX!” He called after Matt, now frantically trying to unjam his own seatbelt to follow.

“Don’t worry! It’s only scissors you can’t run with!” Matt yelled back, not slowing down as he wove through trees, hiking his knees high as he ran to get through at least a foot of snow.

“He’s gonna give me a heart attack one day,” Shiro groaned to no one in particular, following Matt’s mess of a trail through the snow. Each time he got close, he lost sight of Matt in the maze of trees. Of course, his fiance was messing with him, weaving Shiro around in a series of circles and zigzags until he lost the trail. Not a moment later did a gloved hand peek out from behind the nearest tree, and a snowball hit him square in the chest. “Hey!” Shiro barked, and covered his chest defensively, “my tinsel!”

“Oh, _now_ you like the tinsel?” Matt called from around the massive fir tree, coming into Shiro’s line of sight just long enough to deck him with another snowball. “Hypocrite!”

Shiro let out an embarrassing squawk as the cold smacked him in the side of the head, “HEY!” He gathered up his own pile of snow, packing it together as he quickly rounded the tree, aiming to throw, only to find Matt nowhere in sight, and no tracks in the snow. “Sweetheart?” He cautiously asked, turning in a slow circle to look around. There was no way Matt could have gone through his old trail without Shiro seeing… He froze in place, heart dropping as he turned back towards the tree, this time looking up.

Matt smirked down at him from several feet up in the tree, clinging to the branches with one arm and holding a mound of snow in the other. “And here I thought you’d be good competition in my traditional snowball fight,” he teased.

“Oh my god.” Shiro dropped his own snowball, and raised his hands over his head, “Matthew Arthur Tiberius Holt, don’t you dare.”

Ouch. Full name, with both middle names? Matt considered backing down, but he had Shiro right where he wanted him. Snowball fights were tradition, and he always won. He made his decision, took a deep breath, and let out his best _“MMM whatcha saaaaay”_ as held out his hand, and let the mound of snow plop directly onto Shiro’s head.

Shiro sputtered in disbelief, blinking the snow from his eyes after the small flurry hit him in the face. “That’s it,” he playfully growled. Matt had made two crucial mistakes. The first, obviously, was dropping the snowball. The second? Cornering himself, with no ammo. Shiro crouched down, packing together a snowball and locking his eyes onto his fiance’s, “I’m gonna get you, now.”

The flaws in Matt’s plan became clear to him as he searched for a way out, “wait, no, not like this!” He tried to awkwardly shuffle around the tree, but it was too late. The first snowball pelted him in the side, followed by another into his weakly swatting hand. “No! I’m supposed to win!” He shrieked, attempting in vain to fend of snowball after snowball. “You monster!” He tried to gather some of the snow off of himself to throw back, but only succeeded in throwing his own balance. One more snowball to the face and he lost it completely, letting go of the tree and colliding with Shiro on his way to the ground, sending them both down into the snow.

They both groaned, learning the hard way that snow was significantly less soft than it looked. Shiro smacked weakly at Matt, who lay sprawled atop his chest, “Christmas hurts.”

“Ugh, what did I land on?” Matt grimaced, pushing himself up to look at what was digging into his ribs. He had apparently crushed a few of the small ornaments decorating Shiro’s sweater. He gasped, “oh no. I broke your balls.”

Shiro snorted, unable to help it, “why would you word it like that?”

“Just to make you smile, starshine." Matt's smug grin turned into an excited 'O' as he remembered one of the tasks they had set out to do, "OH! We still need a picture!” He rolled off of Shiro, but stayed right up against his side. He fiddled with the zipper on his coat, finally managing to pull it down and reveal a bright red sweater dotted with white snowflakes, and a giant golden bow stitched to the front. The bow has a small tag hanging from it, that read ‘You’re Welcome!’ on it. He dug his phone out of his pocket, and held it out over them both, “family picture!”

Shiro’s heart swelled. Not even the tacky Christmas present sweater, of the dull ache of being landed on could take away from the sentiment of Matt calling them a family. He wedged his arm beneath Matt, wrapping it around his waist and pulling them closer for the picture, “I can deal with this tradition,” he chuckled. He planted a kiss to Matt’s cheek, lingering to give him enough time to take a few pictures.

It wasn’t exactly their best photo, the both of them disheveled, covered in snow with their red noses and rosy cheeks, and Shiro’s sweater sported more broken ornaments than whole ones.  But, Matt was still inevitably going to print out a dozen copies to send as Christmas cards. He rolled back onto Shiro, ignoring the small “oof” of protest, and pressed their foreheads and noses together, “I love you, Takashi.”

“I love you too, Matt.” he brought his hands up to Matt’s face, cupping his cheeks before sliding his fingers back through unruly hair. He gathered all of the long ginger locks out of the way before pressing their lips together.

Matt giggled into the chaste kiss, and kept close enough for his lips to brush against Shiro's as he spoke, “do you love me enough to chop down the tree I just fell out of?”

Shiro barked out a laugh, hoping his fiance was joking. Though, he had a strong suspicion he wasn’t. “Matt, that thing is at least 20 feet tall. We have a 9 foot ceiling.”

“Come on Babe, I can make it work! I’m good at fitting big, long-”

“Stop.”

“Okay…” Matt grumbled, “Maybe we can just… take the top of it?” He suggested with an unsure shrug. “Just the tip.”

“No, we are absolutely not doing that. And really? With the dick jokes?” Shiro replied, playfully shoving Matt off of him and into the snow. “Pick another tree.”

“But this one is sentimental!” Matt whined. He gathered up a loose handful of snow, flinging it in Shiro’s direction, but the light breeze blew most of it back into his own face.

Shiro tried to hold in another laugh as Matt spat out the snow. It served him right. “I love you, with all my heart, but I’m not chopping that thing down. If it means that much to you, mark an X on it and we’ll visit it next year.”

Matt’s eyes lit up, his annoyed expression quickly shifting into a snow-covered grin. “Next year?”

“...Yes?” Shiro confirmed, quirking an eyebrow at Matt, “that’s what tradition means, right? Every year.”

“Aww, puddin' pop,” Matt cooed before jamming his frigid nose into Shiro’s cheek, “you’re gonna make me cry!”

Shiro yelped, flinching away from the cold, “don’t do that, what do you mean?”

Matt ignored the request, this time yanking the collar of Shiro’s jacket down to press his cold nose right into the crook of his fiance’s warm neck, “you said every year, you just agreed to that. No take-backs!”

“I won’t take it back if you stop touching me with your cold face!” Shiro pushed Matt’s head away again, holding him at an arms length with one arm while he rubbing the cold spot on his neck with the other. “pick your tree before we freeze out here, okay?”

Matt swatted Shiro's hand away, then shuffled himself back in close. He splayed his hand out on Shiro’s chest before slowly dragging his fingers downward, “I could always warm you up,” he whispered, waggling his eyebrows, “maybe this Christmas present goes on _top_ of the tree.”

Shiro strongly suspected that the themed sweaters were chosen with that exact line in mind, but the attempt at seduction wasn’t exactly flying with him. Not when he was laying on the ground, starting to really feel the chill set in. “In the woods, in the freezing cold? Not going to happen. Pick a tree.” He watched Matt’s eyes roam the woods around them, and quickly tacked on “no more than nine feet tall!”

The added stipulation was met with a frustrated whine from Matt, who reluctantly picked himself up from the snow and looked around for his ax, “fine, fine. Nine feet…”

* * *

 

After at least another hour of frolicking through the freezing woods, an indiscernibly long drive home, and a good twenty minutes of finagling a prickly, heavy tree inside the house, Shiro was nearly regretting signing up for this. Nearly. As he massaged his temples, trying to rub away the dull ache from his building exhaustion, the only thing keeping him sane was the massive, goofy grin plastered on Matt’s face. “I can’t believe this,” he mumbled, staring at the dirty and damp tree in their living room. “I gave you one rule, you know. One.”

“You approved this tree. I am blame free here,” Matt insisted. He proudly admired their tree, his hands on his hips and his head tilted back to stare up to where the top foot and a half of the mighty fir bent across the ceiling. The tree may or may not have been a bit higher than nine feet tall, without accounting for the added height of the base they put it in. “Besides, It’s perfect. The tree is too big every year. I’ll show you when we go over to mom and dad’s house, there’s a big scuff on the ceiling where the tree jams into it every Christmas.”

Shiro huffed out a humorless laugh, unsure if he believed that, “you’re kidding me. There’s no way your mom is okay with that.”

“Bold of you to assume she wasn’t the one who started that tradition.” Matt smirked at the memory, but he’d let his parents tell that story. “Now, come on, let’s decorate! We need to put up some tinsel, and ornaments, and popcorn strings that I’m probably going to eat most of, and lights, and-” he paced back and forth as he listed off a flurry of things, until Shiro’s arms looped snug around his waist, and a weary head plopped onto his shoulder. Matt stilled, and ruffled the white hair that hung over Shiro’s eyes, “you okay, darlin’?”

“This has been a long day,” Shiro whispered, making no attempt to mask his tiredness.

“Oh… Yeah, I guess it has been,” Matt admitted. He ran through his mental list of things he still wanted them to do before Christmas. There were at least a dozen treats he had baked every year as a kid that he wanted to teach Shiro to make. They still needed to wrap his sister’s gifts in alternating layers of duct tape, plastic wrap, and normal wrapping paper, knowing she would wrap his gifts the same way and they’d make a contest of getting them open on Christmas morning. They hadn’t even made a mini wreath from the trimmings of this year’s tree to hang on the front door yet! But, Matt could feel Shiro’s weight settle onto him, and he took a deep breath. It didn’t all have to be done today. He filed away the rest of his list for later, and settled on something he knew Shiro wouldn’t mind. “Have you ever seen the movie White Christmas?”

“Never heard of it.”

Matt gasped. “What?! Unacceptable. I watch that movie every year!” He tried to make his way over to the couch, struggling to drag Shiro’s limp body with him, “you sit your pretty ass down on the couch, because I’m going to cuddle you so hard, and we’re going to watch it!” His voice was strained with the effort of all the weight he was dragging, but the excitement still came through.

“That sounds fantastic,” Shiro breathed into Matt’s hair, still making his fiance drag him along rather than moving for himself. Finally, he took pity on Matt, and let go of him in favor of sprawling comfortably onto their couch.

Matt breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief when he was freed of Shiro’s weight. “God, you’re heavy,” he complained before flopping down in the small space between the corner and Shiro. He snatched up the remote before shuffling in, slotting himself into Shiro’s side, “you’ll love this movie, and if you don’t, you have to watch it again next year anyways.”

Shiro snuggled in closer, wrapping an arm around Matt’s shoulders. He knew the drill with movie nights. He knew a few minutes into the film, Matt would shift, and lay his legs atop Shiro’s lap and his head against Shiro’s chest. Shiro would in turn rest his chin on a messy nest of auburn hair, and trail his fingers lazily up and down Matt’s shin. Ten or so more minutes in, they’d pause to make tea and popcorn, before settling right back to where they had been before. Regardless of the movie, at least one of them would fall asleep before the credits rolled. Shiro smiled warmly at the thought, “I’m okay with that.”

Matt returned the smile, then paused, hesitant to hit play on the movie just yet. He set the remote down, turning his full attention to Shiro and placing a hand on his cheek. “Takashi,” he started, knowing the name would get Shiro’s attention. He was partial to cheesy nicknames, fitting as many as he could into a day. He saved Shiro’s first name for the important I Love You’s. He waited for Shiro’s eyes to meet his before continuing, “I know I threw a lot at you today, but… You know how important family is to me. And that includes family traditions. And… you’re my family now, too. So…” He placed a small kiss to the corner of Shiro’s mouth, “Thank you. For, you know, putting up with me, and all of this.”

Shiro sighed happily, and brought his hand up to brush a few stray strands of hair behind Matt’s ear, “It’s… admittedly a bit overwhelming. But, I love to see you smile, and…” His face flushed, and he turned away before continuing, “feel what it’s going to be like to make a life with you.”

“Overwhelming is probably a good word for that,” Matt joked, and grabbed Shiro’s chin to turn his face back, “maybe we can add in some of your traditions, too. What’s always been your favorite part about Christmas?”

Shiro answered without hesitation, “definitely the fried chicken.”

“The _what?!_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: Thanks to a crazy ad campaign from KFC a long time ago, it is a major tradition in Japan to eat fried chicken on Christmas. I’m not even kidding. You have to place orders at KFC like over a month ahead of time to get fried chicken on Christmas in Japan. Please do look it up.  
> Thank y'all for reading, happy holidays and happy new year!! :D


End file.
